Bruce and Candace Matthews: pioneers in new family phenomenon: a stay-at-home dad turns the tables on tradition - Parenting

Ebony, August, 2003 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

It helps, Bruce says, that he had an unconventional father who raised him and two siblings. So seeing a man who is handy in the kitchen and good with children was not a new experience for him. "My dad raised three kids by himself," he says. "My father is a great man, and I commend him for everything he did back in the 1960s when it was unheard of for a man to raise his children." As for his cooking skills, Bruce says, "I'm a Louisiana boy and I've always enjoyed cooking" Candace Matthews says her husband is the better traditional cook and she is the better baker. "He's the Southern Sunday dinner cook, but I'm the baker," she says, adding that her late mother is still her inspiration. "My mother never used store-bought desserts. I was raised by a wonderful mother who was extremely nurturing. I want to be like her for my daughters."

A native of New Brighton, Pa., she is the youngest of 18 children of an A.M.E. minister and a homemaker. She is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh with a bachelor of science in metallurgical engineering and administrative and management science as well as an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. But when she comes home at night to a hot, home-cooked meal waiting children and husband, none of that matters. "I come home from work and dinner is on the table," she says. "We eat as a family, and then I bathe the girls, read them a story and put them to bed. Their "couple time" begins at 8. On weekends, Bruce is "off" because Candace describes that as "mommy's and the girls' time."

Although Candace describes her job as a "dream of a lifetime," and "what I have always wanted," she's still overwhelmed by the fact that her husband did whatever it took for her to fulfill that dream. Prompting many a working mom to pose the age-old question: Any more at home like him?